Manufacture of leavened bread



Patented July 27, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT oF c HENRY A. xonMAN AND noY mvIN, E rr'rrsnunon, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNQRS, IBY MEsNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE ELEIscHMANN COMPANY, 01? NEW YORK, N. Y.

MANUFACTURE or LEAVENED BREAD.

No Drawing.

In Letters Patent of the United States, No. 1,274,898 issued August 6, 1918, for improvements in the manufacture of leavened bread, there is described and claimed admix- 5 ing with the flour, yeast and other ingredicuts of the dough batch, the diastatic and. proteolytic enzymes produced'by the. action of an enzyme-producing fungus upon carbohydrate. and protein substances and then fermenting the batch.

The preferred carbohydrate and protein substance referred to in. said patent as the medium upon which the enzyme-producing fungus (preferably Asperg'illus oryzaa) was ably enhanced. Thesematerials, however,

are relativelyexpensive, and,'in finding a cheaper source of nitrogen, we directed our attention'to the use of the ammonium salts.

We ascertained, however, that the mere addition of ammonium salts to the water in which the coarse hominy or maize is cooked gives a medium in which the Aspergillus fungus does not that is to say, the additlon of more than a trace of the ammonium salt sets up a condition which results in very materially lessening the vigor of growth of the fungus with whose spores the cooked hominy is inoculated and robs the fungus'of the desired function of binding the mass together as it should do during its growth.

\Ve have discovered that this failure of the Aspergillus fungus to thrive in the pres-j ence of ammonium salts is due to the fact that when the fungus uses up some of the ammonium salts, there is left an acid residue prejudicial to the further growth of the fungus. For instance, if ammonium sulfate is a ded to the cooked hominy or like medium, the consumption by the micro-organism of a part of the nitrogenous nutriment thus provided, leaves a residue of sulfuric acid which, when of suflicient concentration, is

row to advantage;

\ hominy Application filed December 13, 1919. Serial No, 344,514.

prejudicial to the further thriving of the I fun us. r

'1 1e present invention is based u on the ascertainment of the fact that if t e concentration of the acid residue is kept sufiiciently low, the fungus will grow to advantage in the presence of relatively large quantitles of ammonium sulfate. In other words, byadding to the mass a neutralizing agent (as for instance, calcium carbonate) in $11 cient quantity to neutralize the residue of sulfuric "acid formed by the action of the fungus upon the' ammonium sulfate, 1 we found that successful growths were'obtained although relatively large quantities of the ammonium-sulfate were employed. For instance, 1n a'batch of 500 parts of water and 666 parts of'hominy, We wereable to add from 20 to 30 parts of ammonium sulfate, together with a I correspondin I amount of calcium carbonate, vand nevert eless obtain the usual thriving growth.

Atypical method of carrying the invention into practice would be, for instance, as follows:- E

Take 500 parts, by weight of water and dissolve in it 20 parts by weight of ammonium sulfate. Then add 666 parts h weight is absorbed, which usuallytakes about two hours. The mass is then cooled to a temperature of about 35 C. and 5 parts by of coarse hominy and cook until t e water weight of the inoculating material (Aspergillus) and 25 parts by wei'ht of calclum carbonate are added. The. atch is then placed in a warm moist mom for from 18 to 24 hours until the growth of the fungus manufacture of leavened bread.

- The seeding stock employed for the inoculation of the cooked hominy is obtained, in the preferred practice of the invention, in

the manner described in U. S. Patent No. -1,274,898 hereinbefore referred to, that is,

to say, by cultivating the enzyme-producing fung us,-fo'r instance, the Aspe'rgillus 01-yzae,upon a suitable medium, as herein fully set forth. So also, as described in said patent, there may be substituted for the or Indian-corn maize, other ma-' terials containing starchy and protein constituents susce tible to the same, treatment by the Asperglllus or other enzyme-producthe nitro en would be driven off as free am-. moma, w ereas, 1f the calcium carbonate 1s.

added after cooking, the loss of ammonia 1sslight. In some instances, it will be desirable to add a small 'quantityof acid to the water in which the hominy is 'cooked,par-

- ticularly if the calcium carbonate contains any free calcium hydroxide; this will tend to prevent the loss of ammonia during the growing process. It will be understood that the main advantage of using an ammonium salt in growing the fungus is, as hereinbefore indicated,that it reatly increases the sugarforming powers of the finished product. For instance, if no ammonium salts were added to the cooked hominy, the Lintner value obtained would range from 3 to 6; whereas if ammonium sulfate, together with calcium carbonate, is employed in the manner described, an increase in the Lintner value is observed with increasing quantities of the salts, and, when about 20 parts by weight of'ammonium sulfate is used in 500 parts by weight of the water in--which the homin is cooked, as in the typical example herein fore given, the Lintner value is increased to a range of from 25 to 80 Lintner. 1

In the above mentioned patent to Henry A Kohman the Aspergilhw oryzw-is specifically mentloned as the preferred fungus for use in the process to which the patent is directed; and it is for the growth of this fungus that the process of this patent is specifically employed. It isto be understood,

however, that the invention is not limited to the use of Aspergz'llw org 2a; in producing the product to be employed in the breadvmaking process, but that various other fungi tion is absorbed by the hominy, adding thereto an inoculating fungus of the genus Aspergillus, together with calcium carbonate, and

growing the fungus until the mass of hominy has been bound together, then drying the product at a temperature not high enough to destroy the enzymes, and grinding it up into a meal-like product; substantially as described.

2. The method of producing a substance useful in the maunfacture of leavene d" bread, which comprises cgoking hominy in a water solution of ammonium sulfate until the solution is absorbed by the hominy, adding thereto Aspergillus org zeta, together with calcium carbonate, and growin the fungus until the mass of hominy' has een bound together, then drying the product at a temperature not high enough to destroy the enzymes, and grinding it up into a meal-like product; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we hereunto aflix 

